Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The FDU-Florham Devils men's basketball team dropped a pivotal Freedom Conference matchup 81-69 to Manhattanville College on Thursday night at Kennedy Gym.

With the loss, the Devils (10-10, 5-4 Freedom) fall out of the four-way tie for first place in the Freedom Conference standings and trail Delaware Valley, DeSales, Misericordia and Manhattanville (10-10, 6-3 Freedom) by one game in the loss column.

Three Devils reached double-figures in the loss with Trevor Sykes' (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) 21 points leading the way for FDU-Florham.  Manhattanville senior Jack Bramswig notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to guide the Valiants to their fourth consecutive win.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle between the Freedom rivals and featured five ties and four lead changes. With 5:03 to play in the opening half and the Valiants holding a 33-28 advantage, the Devils exploded for a 13-0 run led by back-to-back three pointers from Kevin Furlong (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) and Andrew Stress (Wrightstown, Pa./Council Rock North), which provided FDU-Florham an eight-point lead.  The Valiants countered by scoring the final seven points of the half and a three by Manhattanville sophomore Anthony Maestre cut the Devils lead to 41-40 at intermission. Maestre tied Sykes with a game-high 21 points and added six rebounds and four assists in the win. Sykes tallied 13 of his 21 points in the opening stanza on 6-of-10 shooting.

The Valiants momentum continued into the second half and they jumped out with a 17-4 run to build a 57-45 lead. The scoring outburst proved to be too much for the Devils who were unable to mount a comeback and the Valiants maintained the double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest.

Manhattanville shot 8-for-12 from downtown, while the Devils struggled converting only one of their nine second-half attempts from beyond the arc.

Furlong finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four steals, while senior forward Will Green (Cranford, N.J./Cranford) chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds in defeat.


Next up for the Devils:
The Devils host King's College this Saturday February 8^th at Alumni Day with start time slated for 3 p.m.